rehearsal. rehearsal. rehearsal. we are getting ready for our NEW christmas show set for detroit and chicago. i can't believe we leave in two weeks. ahh! i still need to get a coat....i can't even think about how i am going to pack my life in a suitcase and manage to get christmas all done before i leave. definitely panicking. does the time seem to be flying??? maybe its because we are in rehearsals ALL day and then doing the show at night. time just disappears.

(worst pic ever...but this is what they decided to use for their publicity photo. ha.)

this hard work is going to pay off and we are going to have an amazing show and create some new adventures in the windy city. ready or not....we are coming!

double trouble

the husband flew to utah to get double knee surgery. he thought one just wouldn't be enough. jk. poor guy. i had rehearsals all day and then my shows so i couldn't get to him until sunday. boo. luckily i have great supportive family that took care of him until i got there (thanks mom. you're the best). 

it took all my effort to keep this guy down (he was up walking and going to business meetings just hours after surgery). finally he realized he needs to slow it down and recover correctly this time (he got his left knee scoped just last june!) so we don't have to do this again! we were able to enjoy the short time we had with our family. they even threw us a mock thanksgiving since we won't be with them for the holidays. 

it is a rarity when we get home cooked food. yum. there was also a lot of dancing and games that followed. the kids love to make up dances, get in costumes, and perform for us. haha. its my fav too.

 then i found everyone in the house taken over by technology. seriously. we were on iPads, iPhones, computers, iPods. its getting weird. 

except i found this little girl playing away on the piano. so sweet. 

then the husband and i decided to take everyone to the movie. puss n boots. we had this whole row filled along with the one below (super blurry cuz it was so dark. sorry). the kids laughing at the movie was more fun to see than actually watching the movie. i love being with family. its one of my most favorite things. 

 cheese.

 we spent a lot of time at the cutest little toy store, blickenstaffs. the kids loved riding the horse and filling up their own candy bags with lots of different candies. so fun. 

xoxo

a black swan halloween

 last minute black swan costumes=success. 

awhile back the husband thought it would be funny to dress up as black swans for halloween and go as "the swansens". he was joking, but i took him up on it (i will take any chance i can to get the husband in tights:)). i ordered awesome tutus a couple weeks in advance, but our shipment got delayed and didn't show up in time. bummer. we said, "oh well" and decided not to do anything. that was a dumb idea. luckily we realized that and went on a frantic costume hunt at 8pm halloween night. no luck at any of the halloween stores. just as our hopes were diminishing we stopped by our local wal-mart on the way back home. jackpot. all halloween stuff was 75% off. we got creative and found witches hats with feathers on them. i found the husband 8yr old white tights, got the only crowns in the store that were miniature, and all the black swan makeup we could possibly need. we just cut the witches hat top off and made the brim our tutu. perfect. 

we picked up the gang and headed out to studio 54. we watched our friend perform and danced the halloween night away. 

the husband is a good sport.

 it turned out to be a happy halloween after all:)

(i was super sad i missed being with my family and being able to take my little nieces and nephews trick-or-treating this year. i may or may not have started to cry when we were facetiming them. i love them)

pumpkins, caramel apples, and a birthday

 fall is probably my favorite time of year. it is finally starting to get cold here in vegas (cold=60s). i can start wearing boots and scarves...yipee! so we thought what better way to bring in the season by making caramel apples and visiting the pumpkin patch.

we found our pumpkins and started carving. i thought they turned out pretty cool. mine is the creepy house. the husband's is the bat. our friend told us to cut the hole in the bottom instead of the top so it makes it easier to light the candle...we tried it....good tip. thanks:)

the best part about october is that the husband's birthday is in october! he got pretty spoiled, but he definitely deserves it. he's pretty cool and i really like him:) it was such a fun day. can you tell how much he loves his new ipad? ha. he was really surprised. i must say, i am pretty good with surprises. 

we ended the night at rao's for dinner (thanks marie;)). it was yummy. we stuffed ourselves way too much. its ok though, its his birthday. 

 happy birthday husband!

i love him:)

xo

sucker

i am a sucker for bath&body works. ugh. i have a whole cupboard, drawer, and closet full of candles, soaps, sprays, lotions, and ..... you get the idea. i love smells. i love my house to smell warm and yummy. my favorite smells are all the fall smells. creamy pumpkin, mulled cider, salted caramel. mmm. that is why i just HAD to, i mean i really had to go again today. i needed this cute candle holder and just a few more yummy smelling candles. you can never have enough. right?

detach

to be unattached means that you are free from outside influences that overshadow your real self.

today we are going deep. i've been thinking a lot about the word detach. maybe it has to do with the fact that for the past 2 weeks the husband and i have gone on yet another endeavor....we gave ourselves the challenge of going on an all plant based diet (no meat or dairy...in other words, vegan). it has been an awesome experience (i mean...we are comparing it to our "juicing reboot", and we all know that was a near death experience. ha)! i think its safe to say we are both very health conscious. we love to challenge not only our physical self, but our mental self as well. i even decided to whip up these little treats to sustain my sweet tooth, and they definitely passed. no eggs, butter, or milk.

detached sometimes brings a negative vibe when really it can be very powerful. i think we sometimes get too attached to our own ways, or maybe its that we just get too comfortable, or maybe we get attached to our past. i dont know. i do know that i am working on it. so this week i am committing myself to detachment. "I will allow myself and those around me the freedom to be as they are. I will not rigidly impose my idea of how things should be. I will not force solutions on problems, thereby creating new problems. I will participate in everything with detached involvement." (thanks deepak) 

Anything you want can be acquired through detachment, because detachment is based on the unquestioning belief in the power of your true self.

ultimately detachment means to have enough love and understanding to let the other person be who he or she wants to be

ET Phone Home

our house looks like we are either remaking the movie E.T. or being quarantined. we literally have to unzip a plastic wall to get to our closet. i am having small heart attacks. messes give me anxiety. no really. i could be slightly ocd. i like clean. our apt had a leak in a pipe that made this mess. we are under construction (along with the rest of nevada and utah). all of our closets are evacuated for the time being. i just need to try and breathe now. 

luckily we did get to go to utah last weekend to escape it all. while we were there we got to celebrate teri and hasen's beautiful wedding along with much needed family time and mountain time. 

we had a couple of hours before the wedding so we sprinted (literally) up to one of our favorite places in utah...stuart falls. so pretty. 

on the way we stopped at sundance to check out their farmers market. the husband asked to get his picture with this guy. we like owls.

other than that we just played at the park a lot, cheered my nephews on at their soccer and football games, rode bikes, longboards, rollerblades, and played my sis and her hubby to a doubles tennis match and won:) 

good times.